For an increasing number of Canadians living with economic insecurity, the political and corporate talking points we've heard ring hollow.

Celine Cooper, Special to Montreal Gazette

Published on: April 9, 2017 | Last Updated: April 9, 2017 7:28 PM EDT

People hold up signs during a demonstration outside Bombardier's head office in Montreal, Sunday, April 2, 2017, to protest recent pay hikes and bonuses to the company's top executives.Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS

A wave of anti-establishment populism the likes of which we’ve seen in Europe and the United States couldn’t happen here in Canada, right?

Don’t be so sure.

The discourse may not take on the jingoism of our neighbours to the south, but many Canadians are also feeling increasingly disconnected from our so-called “elites.” The most recent case in point: the Bombardier affair.

Last week, the public learned that the aerospace giant — a recipient of massive taxpayer funded corporate bailouts — gave its top six executives a whopping compensation of US$32.6 million in 2016, the same year the company announced plans to slash 14,000 jobs, including a few thousand in Quebec.

Canadian and Quebec governments have poured buckets of public money into the faltering Montreal-based company. Quebec announced in late 2015 it was investing US$1 billion in its C series program. And in February, Ottawa announce it would lend Bombardier $372 million.

A Léger poll released last week showed 90 per cent of respondents saying that Bombardier’s senior executives should renounce the pay increase.

Public outrage has prompted the company to backtrack ever so slightly, and announce that it would defer more than half of the compensation money until 2020.

Both Ottawa and Quebec City have expressed frustration with Bombardier while simultaneously arguing that the company has taken appropriate action in the wake of mounting anger.

I suggest they spend a bit more time reflecting on why that public anger is legitimate, and why resentment is building.

For an increasing number of Canadians living with the realities of economic insecurity, the political and corporate talking points we’ve heard ring hollow.

The Bombardier affair is a perfect illustration of why more and more people are feeling dismissed and ridiculed by their government, media, academia and business “elite.” It’s hard to feel warm fuzzies for board chairman Pierre Beaudoin —who already earned US$3.85 million a year — saying he would renounce his almost US$1.5 million wage increase when you’re a 30-something juggling massive student debt and precarious work, or a 60-something hitting retirement age with little or no financial security, insurance or benefits.

Canada may have less inequality than the United States because we have practised a bit more equitable distribution, but make no mistake: The social contract in Canada is eroding. When people lose out, they often look for someone to blame. In the United States, as observers noted during a recent conference at McGill University (disclosure: I was the rapporteur), Donald Trump’s campaign tapped into legitimate grievances, and turned them against immigrants, Mexican and Muslim ones in particular. Many people — myself included — didn’t think he could win. We were wrong. There are lessons to be learned.

Bombardier is a teachable moment, but it’s not the only one.

Justin Trudeau’s vacation to a private Caribbean island owned by the billionaire Aga Khan was recently dredged back up after documents tabled in Parliament revealed the trip cost taxpayers more than $127,000. Most of the bill is related to security for the prime minister and his family, though additional costs were related to transportation, accommodation and per diems of staff at Global Affairs Canada. Opposition leader Rona Ambrose was herself criticized for holidaying on the yacht of a billionaire oil sands financier during the same period that members of her caucus called for an ethics probe into Trudeau’s vacation.

We could also highlight problems with the Phoenix payroll system. While many of Canada’s federal public servants are being paid late, at the wrong pay scale or not at all, hundreds of executives with Public Services and Procurement Canada were awarded with a combined $4.8 million in performance pay over the past year.

If a populist wave does gain traction in Canada, there will be people trying to pinpoint the moments in which public anger fomented, resentment grew and anti-establishment sentiment took root. Don’t say the red flags weren’t there.

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